Page 39 of The Hunted

“Don’t be like your mother. Do as I say. Do not make me repeat myself.”

I silently follow my father down the stairs and through several corridors until we walk out into the back gardens and toward the pond. I look up, taking in the thousands of stars in the night sky. Closer to the pond, there’s a faint glow, and something white moves within the light and catches my eye. It’s August in Tennessee and humid, but my flesh breaks out in goose bumps as the hair stands on my arms.

What the fuck?

My mother is dressed in a white full-length gown with blood spatters down the bodice from her bleeding nose and mouth. She hangs suspended, upright over the pond, tied by each outstretched arm to stakes on opposite shores. Her lower body waist deep in the water. Sobs wrack her body as she sees me approaching.

No! Mom!

I run toward her, but men step out of the darkness and grab me. I fight with all I have but they take me down to the ground, punching and kicking me. I cry out when my ribs crack. Amidst our struggle, I hear my mother scream my name.

“Knox, no! Don’t fight them. Don’t!”

I listen, although everything in me wants to kill them. They grab me by my arms and pull me to my feet facing my mother. She cries as she continues to beg for me not to fight. My father walks up to stand in front of me, pausing for a moment before he back-hands me across the face. My ears ring from the force of the blow.

“Your mother disobeyed me by allowing you to be in the company of Ruby’s son as well as becoming friends with Ruby. I will not tolerate blatant disrespect for my rules in my house. We have these rules for a reason, Knox. On top of this, I discovered your mother had plans to take you and try to run away. As if there was somewhere for her to hide from me. Stupid bitch.”

I look from my mother to my father. I’ve never heard him speak to her that way, much less act like this. He’s always been distant, cold, but this is a whole new level.

“It’s time for you to know who I am. Who you will become. What is expected of you. I am Vaughn Bane, leader of Albatross. We’re a highly skilled group of assassins, Knox. It’s your birthright, your duty to join us. You will join us. In what capacity depends on you and the choices you are about to make.”

Assassins? What the fuck is going on?

My head spins as I try to absorb this new information. I knew my father dealt in shady ventures such as real estate and hostile take overs. Ruining companies, intentionally sabotaging shipments, products, and supply lines so he could sweep in and purchase them for mere pennies on the dollar of their actual value, but this? This is far beyond anything I could have imagined.

Suddenly, the years of his extended absences make sense. The ever-present security detail here at the estate, have been here to keep an eye on his empire in his absence and to keep my mother and me prisoners instead of keeping us safe from his business enemies.

Blood trickles down from my mouth. Sweat soaks my skin. Cicadas sound off in the distance, their song deafening me.

“You can pledge your allegiance now and I will let you go back inside while I kill your mother for her transgressions against me and Albatross, or you can deny me. If you deny me, you will watch her die, only you will suffer with her.”

My mother screams for me to go inside. I squeeze my eyes closed, tears rushing out around the edges. I can’t bear to see her this way. Her terrified voice crushes my heart within my chest.

I hate this man in front of me. I’ve never wanted to torture another living thing in my life until him.

“Knox, your mother knew who I was, what I do. There is no room in Albatross for friends. Not even family. We have children to feed the army that is Albatross. Do you understand? You were born for one purpose, just as I was, to be a killer. To join Albatross. This is your only purpose in life. If you deny this, I will kill you, too.”

My mother’s sobbing pleas fill my ears. My heart breaks for her. I have no way to save her. I can’t leave her. Fuck! I can’t leave her.

“I will not leave my mom.”

I stare the fucker who helped to create me right in the eyes as I grit my teeth. Fuck him. I’ll die here before I leave her.

“Tie him to the tree.”

The goons drag me to a tree that faces the pond, and two men hold me against the rough trunk while two more work ropes around me to secure me in place. The ropes are drawn so tight, they cut into my flesh and press in on my broken ribs. Every breath feels like a battle. After they secure the ropes, they move off to the side as my father approaches.

My dad steps up to face me, and I try with everything I have to break the bindings.

“You will watch that bitch die,” he says as he grips my chin harshly between his fingers.

“You will be tied to this tree until I decide to release you.”

I turn my head, yanking free of his grip. I can’t stand the sight of this man. He never loved us. We were just pawns to him. Any feelings I’ve ever held for him fucking vanished the second I saw Mom.

“You will join Albatross, Knox.”

Vaughn and his goons walk off, and my mother never stops begging him to spare me.

---